Zimmermann's Coffee House was home to the Leipzig Collegium Musicum's weekly
concerts directed by Bach in the 1730s and '40s. The Wigmore Hall's 'Bach
and his Contemporaries' series - celebrating the 250th anniversary of
Bach's death - recreates the spirit of those concerts, with programmes of
the sort that Bach would have devised himself, using (in the case of The
English Concert at least) baroque instruments.

The opening piece, Telemann's A minor Suite for recorder and strings, made
a delightfully spirited start to the evening, with impeccably crisp rhythms
in the Ouverture's slow introduction and a rousing tempo in the ensuing
triple-time section. In 'Les Plaisirs', soloist
Pamela Thorby brought remarkable stamina and
enthusiasm, as well as precision, to the punishingly fast (though never rushed)
recorder part, and the ensemble was excellent (although the harpsichord was
almost too loud at times).

In the beautiful 'Air à l'Italien' the increasingly sought-after
Rachel Podger projected the wonderfully lyrical
and florid violin line right to the back of the hall. The rapid scale-like
runs in the two minuets were tossed off by Thorby with effortless grace and
a lightness of touch, and the fast arpeggiated runs of the
'Réjouissance' were played with much wit. The group shone more
than ever in the delightful and rumbustious 'Polonaise', a character
piece in broad tempo offering all the players an excuse to let their hair
down even further. Though ebullience was never at the expense of precision.

Bach's Double Harpsichord Concerto in C, BWV1061, is thought to be the only
one of his harpsichord concertos originally written for the intrument. According
to Christopher Hogwood in the booklet-note to his L'Oiseau Lyre recording
with Christophe Rousset, it is a 'model of balance between the warring
elements of four-hand writing - competition and collaboration'.
Trevor Pinnock, joined by
Nicholas Parle, gave a very assured, rather
straight, performance, with excellent ensemble but a slightly mechanical
feel.

Bach's Sonata in G for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV1019, has much greater
immediate appeal. The violin plays the dominate role, and again Podger excelled,
her heartfelt yet 'chaste' performance (with little or no vibrato) revealing
rock-solid intonation. Pinnock's continuo line complemented the violin superbly
and there was much witty imitation, including playful unison trills, between
parts. Lutenist William Carter gave an amusing
little introduction to Weiss's Tombeau sur le mort de M le Comte de Logy
, in which Logy emerged as a somewhat eccentric character, who used an especially
small lute as he liked to play it in bed. It is an intriguing, curiously
low-key (almost improvisatory) piece which nevertheless, in Carter's sensitive
reading, held the attention. The special effects he mentioned, notably the
sound of bells tolling, were instantly recognisable and very effective.

Last came Bach's popular B minor Orchestral Suite, with
Lisa Beznosiuk playing the baroque flute solos.
It received a polished performance, although the extremely mellow flute was
less able to project over the other parts than the recorder had been in the
Telemann. Overall, Podger and Thorby were the real stars of the evening,
with Bach's contemporaries coming off rather better than the old man himself.

Sarah Dunlop

[This concert was recorded for Radio 3 and can be heard on Friday 21 January
at 7. 30. PGW]

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